After 6 months of commuting on my Iron Horse I have decided to put it out to pasture. My 15 year old son is in need of a new bike after outgrowing his old one so it won't be going far.

It used to have a rack and lights that I have now moved to my new bike. And here it is:

It's a Merida S-Presso i8-D. It has everything I wanted in a commuter (Alfine 8 speed hub gears, disc brakes, alloy frame, fenders) and yes, it has a kick stand. I have added the rack I had on the Iron Horse. I rode 60kms over the weekend getting to know the bike and it's great. It's fast, quiet and very smooth. There are a couple of things I still need to do - find a neater solution for the lights for one, and I miss the bar ends and clipless pedals.

http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n54 ... rnstar.jpg Hello every one. This is my new commuter bought a month ago 2011 malvernstar xcs 1.o mtb. hadnt ridden a bike for 7 years after my pride and joy mongoose rockadile got stolen. Now back into riding again. I have bought grey ortileb waterproof panniers and a topeak rear rack, and a chain guard which are yet to arrive. i have also already added the bar extensions, front and rear lights, velo cateye cycle computer, alloy water bottle holder and water bottle and gel seat cover, plus the obligatory lock, and mud guards.

teak81 wrote:http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n544/teak81/malvernstar.jpg Hello every one. This is my new commuter bought a month ago 2011 malvernstar xcs 1.o mtb. hadnt ridden a bike for 7 years after my pride and joy mongoose rockadile got stolen. Now back into riding again. I have bought grey ortileb waterproof panniers and a topeak rear rack, and a chain guard which are yet to arrive. i have also already added the bar extensions, front and rear lights, velo cateye cycle computer, alloy water bottle holder and water bottle and gel seat cover, plus the obligatory lock, and mud guards.

It's a Merida S-Presso i8-D. It has everything I wanted in a commuter (Alfine 8 speed hub gears, disc brakes, alloy frame, fenders) and yes, it has a kick stand. I have added the rack I had on the Iron Horse. I rode 60kms over the weekend getting to know the bike and it's great. It's fast, quiet and very smooth. There are a couple of things I still need to do - find a neater solution for the lights for one, and I miss the bar ends and clipless pedals.

Weight distribution. Looks where your hands are relative to the front hub (vertically) when braking. Assuming you have average length arms, that means you can't get your weight back very far. Below is a drop bar bike taken from similar camera angle (from page 5 of thread). Drop bar bikes are also not great at braking, but you can see your position is even further forward than this.

ohhh ok i see that, But it might be attributed to the photo distortion, using a 10mm wide angle lens from about 1.5m away, the end of the bars are about 10cm infront of the hub, not 25cm or so that it seems to look, oh and i think my arms are kinda long, my brother used to call me freak arms anyone else who's tries to sit on my bike doesn't like the position you seem to be forced into, but it feels fine for me.

braking is pretty damn solid on this, thats kinda way i swapped out the velo bars for these cow horns for a more solid braking position.. I can squeeze pretty hard on the front without an issue

Mulger bill wrote:Me neither.

Nice clean looking steed Viv, what wheels do you run?

Shaun

Alex DA22, the front has survived a 20km/h head on with the side of a car, without a buckle. although the frame i was running at the time Snapped

Hi Chillibones. the Merida is amazing!! It puts the power straight down to the road and feels great to push hard. I had a set-up done when I got the bike and it has helped immensely in reducing fatigue and wasted effort on the rides. I ride a 32km round trip (5 times a week), over some nasty hills, back streets and crazy busy roads. The T5 is well set up and has great components. The ultegra running gear is so quick to change and with little fuss.I used to ride a slicked MTB with deore and the ultegra is so sure and immediate that you never really feel like you're out of rhythm. Usually with commuting, you're up and down the gears all the time so it helps to have quick changes. The brakes are pretty good for roadies. After an altercation with the back quarter of a car, I am starting to miss my disc's!! The Avid single digits are nice and light to action and on dry road, they can stop you reasonably quick. The fulcrum racing cx's are fast rolling and solid, which just complement the whole bike.I have changed the saddle as the prologo proforma male had a wide beak and flatter 'wings', which didn't feel right to me. I went to a selle italia slr xc carbon which you hardly even notice that you're sitting on it!!

Merida is a great brand that has origins in Europe and are ridden by some quality riders. As far as commuters go they are as good as the cross-city's, speedsters and trek series, if not better. Not many people know this either; they have a 50% buy back if you have an accident. That is, you can purchase a new merida for 50% off. I'd have to get the proper words to verify, but that's what I've been told by the distributer...

If you're constrained by price, I'd try to get the 2011 T5 at around $1100 as the spec is pretty good value. Good luck!!!

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